Getting to know Valentino.

[Valentino]

Hi all, never had a hamster before and bought Valentino my male Syrian hamster last Friday.

Followed every advise I ve read on my book and he settled fine. For the first time yesterday he didn't sleep in his little plastic house as he used to. Don't know if its because I changed his bedding with brand new one. Didn't keep any of the old one because it was quite dirty. He moved his bedding in the plastic tubes of his cage and slept there. Is that ok? I'm thinking to take off the plastic tubes so he wont go there again and sleep in his house as he used to.

Is it normal for him to sit in his wheel without doing anything? Last night after he had food, water and used his wheel a lot and played around I saw him just sitting in his wheel doing nothing. He seemed relaxed though.

I would really appreciate any advise because I'm worried he isn't happy

Thank you

[Gemma_xo]

I can't comment on the sleeping in the tubes thing, Pixie never did it, but I did see a post earlier about it on another post so I'm sure it wont be long before someone can help there, but with the wheel and doing nothing, Pixie is forever in her wheel just casually chilling out and doing nothing (often staring at me to see what I'm up to!).

Her wheel was at one point her toilet. dining table, plate (she still empties her pouches in there and runs, the noise!), wheel and bed all in one.

She's got better at not using it as a toilet anymore but she still does the rest on a very regular basis, I wouldn't worry about it, it seems pretty normal
x

[Shannonmcn]

They do sometimes have a little huff when you clean out their nests, having familiar smells around keeps them happy and comfortable so he might be a bit upset that you've taken his bedding away, especially if he has only just moved in! If he isn't peeing in his nest then there's no need to remove his bedding after only a week, you can clear out poop and old food every week or so but its best to leave as much of their bedding behind as possible and a little bit of their hoard. Even when you do a big cage clean (depending on the size of your cage that could be every month, every two months) you should really leave enough bedding behind that they can recognise their scent on it, they're not dirty animals and they are easily litter trained so the bedding you have to throw away is usually minimal. If you're getting all your advice from a book it might be outdated, the old advice to clean them out completely every week/2 weeks is from the times when cages were tiny and did get dirty fast. Hopefully he's in a decent sized cage and you can leave cleans for longer, he will be much happier for it.

If you haven't invested in a sand dish or a hamster potty yet I would recommend you do, it really makes cage cleans much easier and most of them take to it immediately. You can use chinchilla sand, children's play sand or specific hamster potty litter but that's usually quite expensive.

I think removing the tubes is a good idea, he will be sleeping in there because he feels safer and more secure in a tube but the ventilation isn't great and if they start peeing in their tubes it can be a nightmare for you to clean. He will eventually settle outside the tube somewhere, maybe give him a cardboard box or something he can build a big cosy nest in? The plastic houses are usually pretty small and, like the tubes, the ventilation isn't great. Condensation can build up on the inside and cause problems if they're hoarding dry food in there with them.

Sitting on his wheel is normal, again, it's a semi enclosed space that smells like him so he will feel comfortable there.

[cypher]

I think Shannon pretty much covered it, I'd agree with removing the tubes, a cardboard box or a nice wooden house on a deep layer of substrate is better than a plastic house & they do like to burrow down underneath it too so make sure it's on the floor of the cage on the substrate not on a shelf or level.
Good advice already about cleaning, basically keep it to the minimum.
They often have multiple uses for their wheels, it becomes a favourite place to hang out or eat as well as run so that's perfectly normal, so is worrying about everything they do as you get to know them!

[Valentino]

Thank you very much all

[Thin Lizzy]

Hi and congratulations on Valentinio, you're first hamster.
Great advice Shannon.
Hams love the toilet/kitchen rolls, they get plenty amuserment out of them.